How in the world did our nation's economic advisers go from ridiculing tariffs and subsidies-
Trade protectionism would be one of the stupidest things we could possibly do.
It was one of the causes of the Great Depression.
To promoting pure protectionism.
The steel industry must be kept aloft despite the fact that it's always getting help.
You know what I would do?
I would subsidize it.
The answer lies in the paradigm shifting, reality distorting and frequently cringe inducing power
of power itself.
I hear something, it's Ronald Reagan rolling over in his grave!
What are you talking about!?
It's a revolutionary thought-
My fellow Americans, it's sometimes said
that if you put three economists in a room and ask them a question
you're liable to get more than three answers.
This is the sad story of a team of presidential advisers with two opinions for every man.
Before Trump took office they stood for a principle that conservatives,
at least rhetorically, have championed for decades.
Free and fair trade brings growth and opportunity and creates jobs
and they all warn that high trade barriers, what is often called protectionism,
undermines economic growth and destroys jobs.
Following in this tradition was Mike Pence.
You can see that our existing trade agreements have truly benefited Indiana
and the entire United States.
As a member of the House of Representatives
Pence voted to normalize trade regulations with China,
he praised NAFTA, voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement,
supported the Trans Pacific Partnership and backed free trade agreements
with Australia, Singapore, Chile and Peru.
I did not come to Washington to ask working Americans
to subsidize the bad decisions of corporate America.
Even though Pence represented a state with over a hundred thousand auto workers
he voted against then president Obama's corporate bailouts out of principle.
Donald Trump will choose Indiana Governor Mike Pence to be his running mate.
After joining team Trump, Pence was a changed man.
Rescued from an unpopular governorship, Pence was thrust into the national spotlight
and his political career was given a new life.
His conversion to protectionism was so sudden and complete
he had a hard time convincing journalists his new faith was sincere.
So are you for the 35% tariff?
Let me go back to the intervening part.
Are you for the tariff though for the-
The carrier, well I'm for us putting everything on the table in negotiations
in renegotiating NAFTA.
You're supporting the Trans Pacific Partnership
that Mr Trump says would rape this country.
As Pence hit the talk show circuit
we learned that every free trade agreement he had supported his entire political career
was now a bad deal and up for renegotiation.
I support free trade and so does Donald Trump.
Not really-
I do-
The United States under successive administrations has been negotiating really bad trade deals-
A month before he was sworn in as Vice President
Pence went from badmouthing banking bailouts
to bankrolling the Carrier corporation in his home state.
Just one year after supporting free trade with China
he now declared it enemy number one.
China is not an ally, China is an adversary of the United States.
At about the same time Trump's campaign adviser Stephen Moore
and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus
were stressing key elements of protection in their speeches and public appearances.
Donald Trump wants to bring jobs back from overseas
and hold companies who want to send them abroad accountable.
We should not have free trade with China
if they're going to continue to steal five hundred billion dollars a year from us, right?
Moore told a group of top Republicans that the GOP
was no longer the party of Ronald Reagan.
The bedrock undernea th the Republican party
is shifting at the rate of one presidential adviser at a time.
After a year in office, members of Trump's economic team
have either adopted the Commander in Chiefs line on trade-
Tariffs are important to preserve the steel industry.
Kept a low profile, or have resigned.
This is Gary Cohn's last meeting in the cabinet and of the cabinet
and he's been terrific, he may be a globalist but I still like him.
As the United States follows other countries down the path of economic nationalism
advocates for free trade are losing their voice.
Fewer are making a compelling public case for free trade
as Milton Freedman did for decades.
You know let's suppose three of us are out in a boat in the ocean.
And one of the fellas out there takes out a gun and shoots holes in the bottom of the boat.
Is it the sensible thing for the others of us to do
to take out our guns and shoot more holes in the bottom of the boat?
That's kind of a silly notion isn't it?
But yet that is exactly the notion of protection and retaliation.
Which are the same arguments that Moore, Preibus, Kudlow and Vice President Pence
all made before joining team Trump.
And as Ronald Reagan believed only inconsistently during the 1980s.
This legislation will enable us to enforce steel export restraints,
guard against unfair import surges into the American market
and help keep the United States from becoming the world's steel dump.
Although NAFTA and the precursor to the World Trade Organization
were born from his administration,
Reagan also raised a punitive 100% tariff on Japanese electronics,
a 45% tariff on Japanese motorcycles,
he slapped export quotas on cars and machine tools and Canadian lumber and sugar.
Just enough economic nationalism to make our current protectionist in chief proud.
Frankly Ronald Reagan, I loved his style, his attitude,
he was a great cheerleader for our, for you know the country but not great on the trade.
All of which is to say maybe President Trump is more Reagan-esque
than even he gives himself credit for.